A pitch for 'Mad Men'

The term "critics' darling" gets thrown around a lot, but rarely has it found a better fit than with "Mad Men," the AMC drama that begins its sixth season Sunday.

In its five previous outings, "Mad Men" has won the Emmy for outstanding drama a record-tying four consecutive times, was nominated for a fifth, and everywhere has drawn the kind of accolades afforded to few TV shows. Yet its audience remains tiny.

Certainly, viewership has climbed from the 900,000 who watched its initial episode on July 19, 2007. Every year, "Mad Men" entices a few more into the fold, but even last year the show still averaged just 2.5 million viewers, less than "The Real Housewives of Orange County" or barely an eighth of what "NCIS" manages on a typical Tuesday.

So who is right: the critics or the audience? Why, the critics, of course. And so I am here to make my annual pitch to watch "Mad Men." It's the best series on TV at the moment, and only a handful of dramas in history – "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," maybe a couple of others – can rival it for sustained excellence.

There are some obvious reasons why "Mad Men" hasn't captured a huge audience: Nothing blows up. Nobody gets murdered. There have been a few fights – kerfuffles, really – but for the most part, people on "Mad Men" deal with their problems by running away from them: drinking too much, having affairs, living fantasy lives or, as in two particularly sad cases, killing themselves. This is not the show for folks looking for some light entertainment after a hard day at work.

But on those days that we're looking for something deeper, something more artful and fulfilling, then nothing is better than a dose of "Mad Men." Remember those movies that Hollywood used to make for grown-ups before it decided to invest its money in entertainment for teenagers? They're on television now.

"Mad Men" takes place in the 1960s, set against the enormous social upheaval that took place during that decade: the civil-rights struggles, the Vietnam War, the rise of youth culture, the beginnings of the women's movement. But the show uses those events strictly as a backdrop; it's not about America or society, it's about the individual and the world that each person builds to live in. And it's about the intersection of the people we present to the world and our "real" selves, however alike or different they may be.

The main character of "Mad Men" is Don Draper, a successful advertising executive known as the best creative guy on Madison Avenue. But he's not who he seems. In the very first episode, we see Don as a hard-driving, hard-drinking type who keeps late hours and squeezes in time to visit his artist girlfriend in Greenwich Village. It isn't until the very end of that first hour that we learn he has a wife and kids in Long Island, where he plays the picture-book husband – when he shows up.

From there we learn that Don's secrets are even deeper and darker than we expected, and as the first three seasons unfold we learn how Don Draper came to be. And we also learn the key to Don's success: He knows that everyone wants to live a fantasy life, and that no one is better at selling that promise than he is.

Everyone else in "Mad Men" has problems they run from and secrets they try to keep, too. Don's wife can't confront her own unhappiness; his protégé, Peggy, refuses to acknowledge her pregnancy; his partner, Roger Sterling, can't see that he is a 60-year-old adolescent. His co-workers include a frustrated writer, a novelist who writes under a pen name and a closeted gay man.

"Mad Men" is not all about big ideas, of course. The characters are well-drawn people who bicker and banter, who can be witty and charming and provide more than a few laughs. For viewers who lived through the 1960s, the art direction and costumes are a nostalgic blast. And even if you missed the '60s, the show is beautiful to watch. The saturated hues of the women's dresses and the men's charcoal suits set against the sharp lines of the midcentury modern sets will make you want to put on something nice and mix up an Old Fashioned.

But more than anything, "Mad Men" will make you think.

Nothing tells the "Mad Men" story better than the very last sequence of last season. Don, after fighting his new wife's desire to work as an actress all season, gives in and gets her a job on a commercial. He leaves her on the garish, brightly lit set and walks by himself into the darkness. Cut to a bar, where he sits and orders a drink. A beautiful blonde woman approaches. "My friend at the end of the bar was wondering," she says, pointing to an equally beautiful brunette, "are you alone?"

Don doesn't say a word, but his expression delivers the answer: "We're all alone."

THE HISTORY OF "MAD MEN"

“Mad Men” is not historical fiction, but it does take place against a backdrop of real events that help us know when the action is taking place.

Season 1 (aired in 2007) – Takes place in 1960, from the spring until around Thanksgiving. In the first episode, we learn that ad agency Sterling Cooper is being asked to do work for Richard Nixon's presidential campaign. The season closes with Don Draper working on the campaign for the new Kodak Carousel slide projector.

Season 2 (aired in 2008) – Takes place in 1962. The season opens on Valentine's Day. In the second episode, the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 plays a large role. The crash really happened on March 1, 1962. The season closes during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which occurred in October.

Season 3 (aired in 2009) – Takes place in 1963. Sterling Cooper is asked to do a campaign for Pepsi's new diet drink, Patio – a real product that eventually was renamed Diet Pepsi. The solar eclipse of July 20 plays a role in an episode. But two assassinations play a much bigger role: the shootings of Medgar Evers and President John F. Kennedy. The latter takes place the day before Roger Sterling's daughter's wedding.

Season 4 (aired in 2010) – Takes place in 1964-65. The background events are less important this season, which begins almost exactly one year after the previous one ended. Once again, Thanksgiving plays a major role. The second heavyweight title fight between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston on May 25, 1965, which ended with a controversial first-round knockout, is featured in another. Later, Don tries to get his daughter tickets to the Beatles show at Shea Stadium on Aug. 15, 1965.

Season 5 (aired in 2012) – Takes place in 1966-67. Two episodes of extreme violence frame the time and the mood of the season. In Episode 3, the killing of eight student nurses by Richard Speck on July 14, 1966, plays a huge role in the fourth episode. The next week, it is the University of Texas shootings by Charles Whitman on Aug. 1. In Episode 8, Don listens to “Tomorrow Never Knows” from the Beatles' “Revolver” album, released Aug. 5.